The Afters lead singer shares heartbreaking stories that inspired new album 'Fear No More'
At a time when anxiety and depression are reaching near “epidemic” levels, the Texas-based Christian band The Afters are empowering people to find refuge, peace and comfort in the “all-consuming goodness of God.”
“One of the most common phrases in the Bible is ‘Do not be afraid,’ yet doctors are saying this is the ‘age of anxiety,’” The Afters' lead singer Josh Havens told The Christian Post. “We wanted to write songs that are anthems to sing over your life when it gets hard. God is real and present and has this all-consuming love that we so desperately need.”
The Afters bandmembers Havens, Jordan Mohilowski, Matt Fuqua and Dan Osteb are gearing up for the release of their sixth studio album, Fear No More, dropping May 31. The album’s title track “Fear No More” includes the lines “You're my strength 'cause I'm not strong enough to win this fight/You are greater than the battle raging in my mind/I will trust You, Lord.”
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Those lyrics, Havens told CP, were birthed out of his own struggles with fear and anxiety.
“It’s something I’ve dealt with since I was a kid, and it got really bad about the time my dad passed away 15 years ago,” he shared. “There was a whole season of my life where my joy was robbed from me because of fear and anxiety. When my first child was born, I was lying awake, so consumed with worry and stress and I couldn’t shut it off.”
As the Dove Award-winning band began working on their latest album, Havens noticed that one of his bandmates seemed to be struggling in the same way.
“I could tell it was taking over his life,” Havens said, “and sure enough, he called me one day and said, ‘Josh, this is debilitating. It’s consuming me and creeping into my mind, and it’s messing with my health.’ So we decided to get together and write a song about trusting God. This is a song we need. It’s a song that’s empowering that we can sing in those moments we feel crippled by fear and anxiety.”
Since their formation in the late 1990s, The Afters have always had one goal: To write songs that are real and honest — and point listeners to God. Their latest album addresses the universal human experience of grief, brokenness, and the quest for belonging while directing listeners to the source of healing and strength.
The album’s opening track, “What Home Feels Like,” puts into words the “feeling we had after years of touring,” Havens said, adding: “home isn’t a physical location; it’s your community and family. We have that feeling of home every night when we sing to our fans all around the world. It’s shown us a new perspective of what home is.”
Havens also shared the story behind the poignant song “Forever and Always.” He revealed that last year, Pyper, the daughter of The Afters' longtime sound manager and his wife, unexpectedly died during labor and delivery.
“It was so devastating,” Havens recalled. “I remember flying to the funeral, and when we reached him and his wife, we didn’t know what to say. We just cried on each other’s shoulders. Later I was thinking, ‘what do I want him to know? What words do I want to share?’ But they just weren’t coming to me.”
A few months after Pyper’s passing, The Afters embarked on their European tour and invited their sound manager and his wife to come along. While in Amsterdam, the group was surprised to stumble upon an eatery called Pyper Cafe.
“It was just so incredible, especially because the spelling of that name was so unusual,” Havens said. “So after the show, we all went to this cafe and spent a few moments praying over the couple and remembering Pyper.”
While at the cafe, Havens noticed an award mounted to the wall: “It was for hospitality,” he said, “so I was like, ‘hey guys, come take a picture with this.’ Our sound guy and his wife came over and looked at the award, and they both started bawling. They said: ‘You won’t believe this, but the date on the award is the same day as Pyper’s birthday.’”
“It was like God saying, ‘I see you, I care for you,’” Havens said. “It was like angels were flying around us. Even in our most broken moments, God was there. That was the catalyst for ‘Forever and Always.’”
Full of uplifting anthems, "Fear No More" provides the antidote to fear, anxiety, and loneliness — and reflects the faithfulness of God amid even the darkest moments.
“Our brokenness presents a fork in the road of our lives,” Havens said. “Either we can blame God or be angry, or we can trust Him. Life gets so hard, and I can’t explain it all — but God is there amid our brokenness. A lot of our music is about finding God in our struggles and knowing that we’re not alone and He’s not going to leave.”
“In those moments, when we’re most vulnerable, we want to encourage people to remember that the One who made you is with you,” he continued. “There are going to be times when thoughts of loneliness creep in and we wonder, ‘God, where are you when I need you the most?’ My experience is, He’s there. Looking back on my own life, His fingerprints were all over every single moment.”
